Fate/Zero Episode 23: Saving Private Rider

Well folks, Rider’s officially dead. That means we can all go home dejected, but I guess not every show ends happily. Oh right, there are still two episodes left. Two lonely Rider-less episodes…

In order to pull myself away from the inevitable wave of Rider mourning, I was originally going to write this post on Berserker and the not-so-secret revelation that he’s Sir Lancelot. Unfortunately, there’s been little to no content related to his character elaborated on in the show, and from what I’ve read his Nasuverse representation differs very much from Arthurian legend, so in the interest of content it looks like I’m going to don my proverbial black veil and write about Rider’s death was handled.

After lasting for most of the show before finally biting the dust in one of Archer’s douchiest displays of gross might, which is saying something when every moment Archer is on screen is douche-tastic in one way or another, I can say that I’m nowhere near as disappointed at his death as I thought I’d be. While I can say that I was hoping against hope for him to win the Holy Grail War, since he was the perfect counterbalance to the combined angst of every other character and just once I’d like a non-brooding anime character to one-up the angst-brigade, I think the story did him justice by lending his final moments an almost poetic air.

Pure poetry.

When looking at Alexander the Great in history, he may very well be the paragon of selfish, yet infectious ambition, something reflected in his Fate/Zero incarnation down to his last moments. For somebody with an almost single-minded devotion to conquering in one way or another, Rider was a very sympathetic character for the sheer breadth of his ambition—a breadth almost too large for one man to satiate by himself. Just like his past incarnation, his nature as a conqueror, which far surpassed his nature as a king, led to his undoing while charging at Archer. It was very sobering seeing a character exuding such an air of bravado have his dreams crushed before his very eyes, his beloved men being swallowed by the vast expanse of oblivion, and all with a few dismissive swipes of a gold-plated hand.

Appropriately, his death almost felt like something stolen from Greek tragedy, where a character practically pulsating with ambition is put in their place by forces outside of their control, no matter what they try to do. This is a boon in that it’s an appropriate, mournful way to end the story of the King of Conquerors, and serve to lend his final moments gravitas that they might have lacked if he and Archer were originally on equal footing. Sacrificing suspense in favor of Rider staging a final, ultimately fruitless final stand was a good decision, possible negative consequences and developments aside, making this the strongest episode of Fate/Zero yet.

Despite not standing much of a chance against the superior firepower of Archer, Rider still went out with as much of a bang as I could have asked for, not the squelch or whimper that I was expecting. If they were going to kill off the most interesting character no matter what, at least they did it with style and a copious amount of explosions. In the end, that’s all I wanted.

14 Responses

The thing with Rider is that he considered his bond with his people his most precious treasure and the path of his kingship. He’s selfish and selfless in a good balance because of this. HIs conquest involved people joining him willingly without humiliation or defeat (isn’t this pretty much the basis of shounen heroes only to actually spelled aloud?).

Also, I am sad but I would not cry for him. Rider obtained what he wanted in the end: his endless sea. Thanks to Waver in part. He realized Oceanus was within the beat of his life and every minute counted. Also Waver and Rider: “From this day until the end of time, the servant would be guided by the figure of the King, and the servant would remain loyal to that memory. In the face of the oath, even separation was meaningless; under the command of Alexander, the bond formed between King and servant was eternal and beyond time.”

Considering that this is an Urobuchi anime, everybody should have seen this coming. We should all be thankful that his death was respectful and didn’t ruin his character.

That being said, I still can’t get over Kiritsugu’s speech after defeating Lancer and his masters. In short, he concluded that killing people is a terrible thing that can never be honorable, and upon thinking about it, I’m inclined to agree. Now, don’t get me wrong, intent is still very important, but giving the actual act of killing “rules” is rather disturbing. With that in mind, it certainly makes all the characters of Fate/Zero a bit darker, Rider included.

But isn’t this what the governments of today do for us? Giving the act of killing rules is essentially what they do. You’re 100% right but if you put it in context of governments, then it’s even more disturbing.

Side note: Really looking forward to watching fate/zero. I watched Fate/Stay Night a couple of weeks ago and thought it was pretty good but my friend keeps telling me that this is better. Since it’s almost finished, I’ll wait until it’s completely done to watch it all in one sitting :).

I’d like to think that they regulate under what circumstances you are allowed to take another’s life, but I do understand what you’re saying. The Geneva Convention is something I still find ridiculous. We can come to a consensus on how we’ll kill, but we can’t come to consensus on how to stop it in the first place.

I think that by finding one form of murder more “honorable” than another, you are, in a sense, saying that killing is better in some situations. Again, intention can be right or wrong, but the act of killing should never be morally accepted.

I see where you’re coming from here. Still, it must be remembered that these were ancients that thrived on war and conquest in order to get what they wanted, so some regulations and honor put in place made things less painful for both sides. I agree that killing isn’t honorable no matter what, and should never be the first course of action, but something had to give between Archer and Rider for the war to make any progress, and that something was one of their lives. But damn was it entertaining.

They were foes that saw each other as worthy of respect. Wouldn’t you want to at least have a chance to talk things out with somebody who you’d rather not fight? And it’s a good way of making a final impression, I suppose.

Rider was my favorite hero by far in the entire fate series, I’m talkin fate stay night(the heroes really sucked bad in that series) and fate zero together. His whole attitude, kindness, strength and ability to earn the respect of the other two kings made him a larger than life character to me.

His end was superb, he died with his dignity and pride but I still feel the writers could have made it a bit more epic by landing at least a few nice sucker punchers in that dirtbag, Archers face and his noble phantasm to be knocked down in a no effort style was kind of anti-climactic in my honest opinion. If you really think about it carefully, Saber is having a harsh time with berserker in the semis but Golden Boy gets it on a golden platter(no pun intented) against one of the best heroes ever which just doesnt sit right by me. He walked away without a scratch and not even the least bit out of breath.

His last moments with Waver were really grand from the time they left for battle right till the time that it ended. It clearly illustrates the reason why Rider was so well respected amongst his people and why he commanded such a noble phantasm.

I think a lot more could have been done in this battle in order to make it much more epic as a battle of two very great Kings.

Caster was good character-wise in the visual novel. She didn’t have anywhere near the likability of Rider, but her personality was a web of neuroses and very specific dislikes, not to mention the ridiculous, if specific strength of her Noble Phantasm.

It was fitting for Rider to have his delusions crash before his eyes on behalf of Archer, not even landing a hit. Again, he died well, and that’s the important thing.